To Save A Life
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Pre-series. Sam defies his brother and father in order to save a friend's life. *Complete*


_**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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><p>To Sam Winchester defying his father was nothing new, but this was a whole new level to go to, but still here he was checking in for surgery while his oblivious brother and father believed he was on a school trip. You may wonder why Sam would be having surgery, let alone a surgery his family was unaware of, and you would be right to wonder, but it was really simple actually, well at least for Sam it was, he had barely had any friends through his childhood, but there was one kid, Joel Fraser, another hunter's son who Sam had met going on nine years earlier, now Joel was sick, really sick, he needed a transplant, and Sam was going to be the one to give it to him.<p>

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><p><strong>Six weeks earlier<strong>

It wasn't unusual for Sam to get an email from his friend, but usually it was about the latest hunt his dad had gone on, or complaining about the amount of homework he was getting, lately though things had changed, now all the emails held was news of illness and an uncertain future for Joel, who had been recently diagnosed with renal failure, and was now strapped to a dialysis machine much of his life with no end in sight as his family had not been a match for him and the transplant waiting list for a kidney was unbelievably long, too long.

That's where Sam came in, they had been only a couple of hours apart when Sam read the email telling him that his friend's last possible related donor wasn't a match, many would say that what Sam did was stupid, even moronic, but others would say that he was brave, saving his friend's life, he spent an email back offering to get tested as a possible match, after that everything seemed to happen very fast.

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><p>It was arranged for Sam to go to a local clinic for the blood test, a first step, two weeks later the news came that his initial testing showed a possible match, and qualified him as a potential living donor. The next step was to perform a series of physical and psychological tests to assess Sam as being well, and able to go ahead with the procedure, for that Sam had to go an hour away to the transplant centre at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Joel was currently hospitalized, as he would be until surgery.<p>

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><p>Through this time Sam would tell his brother and father that he had fallen asleep studying at a classmate's house, and had stayed the night, they weren't stupid, they knew it was a lie, a very credible lie, but a lie nevertheless, Dean had teased Sam about it, and Sam had played him like a fiddle, even blushing appropriately when his brother suggested that he had spent the night with a girl.<p>

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><p>In the same visit Sam met with the surgeon, Dr Alan Morisset. Sam checked out of the motel where he had stayed overnight, and walked across the street to the hospital for his early morning meeting with the surgeon.<p>

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><p>Sam was met by the surgeon's receptionist, and after being given a clipboard with some basic paperwork to fill out Sam took a seat in the waiting area.<p>

The physician didn't tell Sam much he didn't already knew. It would be a three week wait to get all of the tests back, if everything checked out then the case would be assessed by a multidisciplinary team, and only if all of that went according to plan would a surgery date be set. A lot of ifs, but it was the way the hospital staff decided worked best.

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><p>Sam struggled to keep everything together as he waited for the final okay, he kept going to school, training as ordered by his father before and after school, hunting most weekends, and in whatever gaps of time he could find, Sam worked on his medical insurance and school trip permission paperwork forgery skills; it had to be spot on.<p>

Sam passed the testing with flying colours, it was getting to the countless appointments that became difficult for the teen, by the day of the surgery, Sam would have Dean and John fully convinced that he had a girlfriend, and he was spending all his time with her; successfully hiding what he was actually doing.

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><p>Finally Sam got a phone call informing him of the results, they had the go ahead. At this point the doctor cautioned Sam, the surgery was potentially life threatening, and god forbid if one day Sam's remaining kidney was injured or he became unwell, his life would be in real danger, but Sam was legally an adult now, the decision was his to make, and by then Sam had set his mind on it; Joel had seen him through some of the roughest times of his young life, and now Sam had a chance to repay him, there was no way that he would leave his friend hanging when he could help.<p>

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><p>The day the operation was scheduled Sam went on a 'school camp', Sam made sure that his lie was completely flawless, right down to the phoney permission slip he had his father sign, too much depended on it.<p>

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><p>Sam caught the early morning bus down from Crystal Lake to Chicago to admit himself to the hospital, but before he went to admitting, Sam went upstairs to visit his friend.<p>

Joel was sitting up in bed, flipping through an old magazine he had found; his mother was staring out the window, his father was away on a job. When they noticed Sam's presence, both stopped what they were doing.

The next thing Sam knew he was being embraced by Joel's mom, Carolyn.

As Sam pulled away, he greeted them, "Hi Mrs Fraser, hey Joel."

Joel grasped Sam's hand, shaking it as he replied, "It's real good to see you man."

"How are your father and Dean? Are they with you?" Carolyn asked kindly.

The lie went so deep that only Sam and Joel knew the full truth, "They're well, thank you. Out hunting a poltergeist in Jasper County, Indiana." That part wasn't a lie, his family were meant to be leaving on a job the next day.

"Oh, they couldn't be here?" Carolyn's sympathy was genuine, over the years she'd seen how John Winchester had chosen to raise his sons.

"It's okay ma'am, Dean would drive us all crazy if he was here."

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><p>Sam soon left, promising to visit after the operation, it was time for him to be admitted. He must have filled out ten pages of paperwork before a nurse came to show him upstairs.<p>

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><p>The nurse brought Sam up to the fifth floor, the day surgery unit; she showed him to a bed, and gave him a gown and compression stockings to change into while they waited for the anaesthesiologist to speak to Sam.<p>

Of course Sam was nervous as the time for him to be taken to the OR drew closer, part of him wished that his brother was here with him, but this was how things had to be.

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><p>Before Sam was taken into the operating room, his surgeon, Dr Morisset came to see him in pre-op to go over the procedure one final time, answer any questions Sam might have, but most importantly he came to get the consent forms signed.<p>

"Good morning Samuel, are you ready to get this show on the road?" The doctor greeted Sam.

"Ready," Sam said, apprehension in his tone.

"Okay, well we just need to go over a couple of last minute details, then we'll take you into the operating room."

"Yep," Sam answered quickly.

"So first I just need to make sure that you understand what we are doing today."

"You're going to take out my left kidney to be given to Joel, it's going to be done laparoscopically. Is that what you need to know?"

"Perfect. We should be in and out in about four hours. You will go to the transplant recovery unit, the nurses there will make sure you're comfortable, they will be giving you morphine. When you wake up you will have wrist restraints on to stop you from pulling out any tubes, the nurses will take them off as soon as you are fully recovered from the anaesthesia, hopefully we will have been able to take you off of the ventilator in the operating room, the nurses will want you to start using the incentive spirometer soon after you wake up to prevent pneumonia, you will also have a catheter in your bladder, it may be uncomfortable, but you will need it until you are able to get up and around, there will also be an IV in your hand or arm, and a small tube in your abdomen to drain any blood or fluids that can collect under the skin after surgery. Do you have any more questions for me before we take you in?"

"No, all sounds pretty straight forward. Do you need me to... the consent forms?"

Dr Morisset smiled kindly, and he then extended a clipboard he was carrying to Sam, "Here's the consent form for the transplant surgery. Read over it, and sign where it's marked."

Sam hands were shaking ever so slightly as he accepted the forms, he glanced over them quickly before scrawling his signature on the bottom line, and then he handed the form back to his doctor.

"Alright. An orderly will be in soon to bring you into the operating room, just lie back, and try to relax, I'll see you in there."

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><p>Both Sam and Joel's surgeries went well, and afterwards they were taken into the recovery area within the transplant unit, Mrs Fraser sat between the two beds, watching over the boys as they slept.<p>

Sam of course was in better shape as his surgery was less invasive, and shorter than the boy his was donating to. He would only be in hospital for two days barring complications.

Joel was doing well considering, but he had been very ill before the surgery, he was still on a ventilator, but it was already clear to the doctors that his new kidney was working well, and it was saving his life.

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><p>Sam left the hospital three days later, he was recovering well from the surgery; he was given an appointment in ten days to have his sutures taken out, though he had no plans of making the long trip for something he could do himself. Dr Morisset gave Sam many instructions, but there was one that Sam would wish he had listened to a little more carefully; be careful of the sutures, no lifting anything that weighs more than a carton of milk, and no strenuous physical activity.<p>

The ride back to Crystal Lake was uneventful; Sam then caught a taxi the ten minutes from the bus stop to just around the corner from his house, as far as Sam would let his family see he had walked from the school, where as far as they knew he would be coming back from camp to.

But as difficult as it had been keeping this secret from his family before the surgery, it only got harder afterwards.

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><p>Sam was out in the backyard of the Winchester's latest residence, it was only four days since the operation, and John had decided that his sons needed to practice sparring.<p>

Sam was still having trouble walking, it was soon obvious to his older brother that something was wrong, but John would not allow the boys to stop. Dean was trying to go easy on Sam, but little did he know every moment was sending shooting pain through Sam's body.

It only took a light jab to the stomach to send Sam crashing to the ground.

Dean saw blood starting to seep through Sam's shirt as he dropped down beside his brother, "Sam, you're bleeding..."

"It's fine-"

Dean saw the pain in his brother's face, "Shit, I'm so sorry man, I didn't think I hit you that hard."

"It's fine."

"Let me look," Dean insisted, and before Sam could stop him, Dean pulled up Sam's shirt. Dean let out a surprised gasp, the multiple surgical incisions adorning Sam's torso were revealed, it was clear that at least two sutures that had been holding the largest of the three incisions together had burst, and blood was seeping from the wound.

Sam tried to move away from his brother's invading hands. He hadn't planned for his family to find out, not because he was ashamed of it, but because he knew how much they worried about him, maybe some time down the track, when his body was fully healed, but not now. "Damn it Dean! I said I was fine."

Dean grabbed his brother's wrist before Sam could make his getaway, "You think I can just let you walk away now? You're bleeding, come on inside, I'll get you something to put on it, then we are gonna talk."

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><p>Dean helped his brother inside, guarding Sam from their father, who was now on a warpath. Sam let Dean lie him down on his bed, as Dean gently cleaned the wound, and prepared to re-suture the open incision, he asked, "What're these from Sammy? It almost looks like you've had surgery. You've got to talk to me now, Sam coz Dad is waiting right outside that door, and he is mad as hell."<p>

Dean knew that there was no almost about it, these wounds on his younger brother's abdomen were from surgery, and Sam knew that Dean had to know. "I wasn't on camp."

"I figured that."

"I went to Chicago."

"Chicago?"

"Yeah. You remember Joel Fraser, Clint Fraser's son, right?"

"Yeah, we worked with Clint a couple of months back on that poltergeist in Nevada. He said something about Joel being sick, something to do with his kidneys or something. What does that have to do with this?"

Sam stayed silent, giving Dean a minute to figure it out on his own.

Finally the penny dropped. "Wait! ...Sammy, you didn't... Damn it Sammy!" Dean shouted, he dropped the towel that he'd been using to clean Sam's wound, he stood up, and stormed out of the room.

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><p>John was pacing around the living room, when Dean came out of the room that he and Sam sharing, swearing his head off.<p>

John headed over to his elder son, he wanted answers, "Dean, what the hell's going on? What is wrong with Sam?"

"I fucking fought you because Sam told me he wanted to go on that trip, I fought for him, and all the time the little bastard was lying to me!" Dean was furious.

"What was he lying about?" John pressed.

Dean seemed almost murderous as he told his father, "That kid went behind our backs, and had surgery-"

John was shocked, he broke in, "Surgery? What the hell for! Sam's perfectly healthy... isn't he?" He ended with a question.

"...He's fine, just short of a kidney now." John didn't reply so Dean continued, "He gave that friend of his, Joel Fraser a freakin' kidney."

"I found out he was sick, I got tested, and I matched, I did the right thing guys," Sam spoke as he stepped out of the bedroom, holding tightly to the wall to keep his balance.

"Sam?" John said in surprise. He hesitated before making the decision that the answers could wait, his son shouldn't be out of bed, John could see blood still seeping through Sam's tee-shirt. John moved towards Sam offering a hand to help him back to bed, "Come on Sam, you've gotta lie down."

Dean broke from his rage, as he realised what their father had for once seen before him, Sam's need for help. Dean put away his anger in order to help his brother, and he took Sam's other hand as they walked slowly back to the bed.

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><p>Soon Sam was settled once again on the bed, and John was getting ready to redo the failed sutures, while in spite of everything else he was feeling, Dean knelt beside the bed, holding Sam's hand.<p>

"You ready kiddo?" John asked as he prepared to start suturing, grateful that Sam would only need two or three sutures, he didn't think that he had the emotional strength for much more.

Sam had had 'rough' suturing before, he grabbed Dean's hand a bit tighter, he braced himself as best he could, before nodding in agreement; he was ready.

John worked as quickly and softly as he could, and in ten minutes he was offering Sam a drink of whisky as he put a dressing over the freshly sutured wound.

Dean looked to his father, and then to his brother, as he sought the information he needed, "You could have died Sam. I don't understand how you could go have surgery without telling us. What would have happened if you died, can you even begin to imagine what that would have done to Dad and me? How could you be so stupid Sammy!"

"It's Sam," Sam replied automatically before replying to his brother, "And you're the one who doesn't get it Dean. Joel was going to die, now he's back home with his parents, looking at universities. I found out that I could help, so I helped, it's a good feeling you know, Dean."

Now it was John's turn to speak, "I can get that it feels good to have helped someone like that, but why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"Because I know you, both of you, I knew you would freak out and talk me out of it," Sam answered.

"You should have given me a chance to try," Dean said softly, his true hurt revealed. "What if there had been a problem Sam? What would have happened if you died?"

"Don't you think I agonised about doing this?"

"...Um," Dean didn't know what to say.

"No, just no. I'm eighteen, it was my choice to make, and I don't regret it. But I am sorry I lied to you both, for whatever it means."

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><p>After that fateful day Dean and John read up everything they could on recovering from kidney donation; they did everything they could, and then some to aid Sam's recovery. Sam was only allowed out of bed if someone was there to help him, they helped him twice a day with his physio exercises, and for once in Sam's life there was no hunting, absolutely no training or research was allowed until he was fully healed.<p>

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><p>Eight months later Sam was fully recovered, as was Joel, and when Clint Fraser called John asking for extra hands for a hunt, John didn't hesitate.<p>

On that week in South Dakota, Sam and Joel took a photo together. Each boy took a copy, and for many years both boys carried that photo as a reminder of the bond they would forever share.

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><p><em><strong>The End.<strong>_

_**Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to drop me a review.**_


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